Durum Breeding Program
The durum breeding program at the Waite was founded by Dr Tony Rathjen in 1989 and since 1990 has involved an informal partnership between the University of Adelaide, SA Durum Growers Association and San Remo Macaroni Pty Ltd. The formation of the Australian Durum Wheat Improvement Program (ADWIP) in 2007, which is funded by the GRDC and San Remo, resulted in Southern and Northern nodes being developed. Since 2010 Dr Jason Able has run the Southern node breeding program at the University of Adelaide, while the Northern node breeding operations is led by Dr Gururaj Kadkol at NSW Primary Industries in Tamworth. During this period, several varieties have been released (including Tamaroi, Kalka, Caparoi and Tjilkuri). Several new advanced lines bred through the Southern node of ADWIP are currently also near release (WID802 and WID803) and offer significant improvements in performance under crown rot pressure and adaptation while maintaining very high quality. Such varieties of the future will provide a significant boost for the expansion of durum not only in South Australia but nationally.
Major Breeding Objectives
Reduced Crown Rot Susceptibility:
Local durum varieties are susceptible to Fusarium pseudograminearum which is exacerbated by stubble retention, high levels of cereal cropping in current rotations and zinc deficiency. Varietal reactions are confounded by the timing of water stress, presence of another closely related pathogen (F. culmorum), the soil type and the complexity of the genetics for resistance. Nonetheless, some advanced lines are showing reduced susceptibility to this disease and additional improvements will be made over the coming years through fast-tracking our pre-breeding research aligned to this, and which will feature as part of ADWIP II (2012-2017).
Quality:
Maintaining and improving the high quality of Australian durum wheat is important for both the domestic and international markets. Australian durum is exported to markets such as Italy, who regard our durum as having very high quality (comparable to the best markets in the world). Quality evaluation within the ADWIP program is conducted in an ISO9001-certified facility at Tamworth NSW under the leadership of Dr Mike Sissons. Several advanced breeding lines (and soon to be released varieties such as WID803) within the program have excellent quality properties that make them highly desirable for semolina and pasta production.
Breeding and Adaptation
The breeding strategy broadly follows the F2 progeny method with emphasis on selection for grain yield in farming conditions. These trials are grown at nine edaphically and agriculturally diverse locations across South Australia allowing selection for integrated adaptation of new varieties, not only for major defined attributes, but also for factors such as heat tolerance at anthesis, non-protruding embryo and the less important pests and diseases. In order to expand durum production, particularly in Southern Australia, the breeding program is investigating additional trial sites on the Yorke Peninsula and in the Western Wimmera region of Victoria. A new trial site in 2013 will be launched in the Western Wimmera region. Over time this will allow for improved adaptation above and beyond what has already been achieved and will provide further insight into how our advanced lines perform in new locations.
Diversity in parental genetics and short generation intervals are integral to the breeding program. We have imported material (and will continue to do so) from all over the world so that we incorporate diversity into our breeding material. This is integral to the continuing success and expansion of the durum industry in Australia. Materials have come from as far afield as CIMMYT in Mexico, ICARDA in Syria and Società Produttori Sementi in Italy. Worldwide, molecular markers play an important role in breeding programs today. The ADWIP is no exception and with our collaborators, we are constantly striving to develop and implement marker-assisted selection (MAS) at The University of Adelaide under the leadership of Professor Diane Mather's group.
Associated Pre-Breeding
The Importance of Roots:
A GRDC funded pre-breeding root traits project (involving Dr Jason Able, Dr Alison Millar, Dr Genet Mekuria, Mr David Keetch, Professor Diane Mather and Associate Professor Glenn McDonald) aims to obtain information on the genetic variation for specific root traits (such as root mass and distribution, rooting depth, early root vigour, seminal root angle and number). These traits can then be potentially used as targets for durum wheat breeding, and for the identification of additional donor germplasm. During this project we also aim to understand the genetic, morphological and physiological causes of superior performance of recently developed elite durum lines, based on evaluation of stress adaptation, nutrient use efficiency, crown rot tolerance and genome-wide DNA marker information. This will be achieved by screening materials through yield trials, conducting extensive field-based measurements and whole genome profiling. In addition to the abovementioned outcomes, we will obtain information on the value of zinc efficiency and/or early root vigour for improving grain yield and/or reducing losses due to crown rot in adapted durum backgrounds. This will be achieved through using zinc efficient and/or early root vigour germplasm as parental material in the durum wheat breeding program.
Boron tolerance:
This was first identified in a Chinese durum variety (Lingzhi) and its genetic control was elucidated, along with the genetics of other sources. Screening for boron tolerance on our advanced lines is conducted using both molecular markers (in collaboration with both Professor Diane Mather's group, and Margie Pallotta [ACPFG]) and hydroponic root length assays, which are conducted in-house by staff from the breeding program.
Salinity tolerance:
In conjunction with Dr Rana Munns (CSIRO, Canberra) and Professor Mark Tester (ACPFG), yield trials comparing Na excluding and non-excluding genotypes have been conducted over several locations, usually with high levels of transient salinity. It is thought that Na exclusion may be a major factor in adaptation to Australian soils where high levels of Na are often present. This research is ongoing.
Varieties
Tamaroi and Gundaroi were Waite Institute selections from breeding material obtained through Dr Ray Hare of (the then) NSW Department of Agriculture. These two varieties were instrumental in establishing the Durum industry in southern Australia. Since those early days, Kalka was released in 2003, which had better quality than Tamaroi and tolerance to high levels of soil boron. More recently, Tjilkuri was released in 2010 and is a slightly later maturing variety. It is a substantially better replacement for Tamaroi, having a consistently higher yield and better quality characteristics (for example, semolina colour). In addition, and given its compact stature, it is less likely to lodge when compared to other varieties such as Hyperno.
Durum Production History: South Australia
Durum production expanded dramatically from the 20 t of seed bought in 1990 to over 350,000 t in 2001. Since that time, production levels have been inconsistent from year to year. An average year will result in approximately 160,000 t being produced. Local consumption is > 150,000 t and is expanding every year. In 2010, South Australia produced approximately 245,000 t. A major contributing factor as to whether durum is grown each season has been the ‘fear' of crown rot. However for many growers, especially in the mid to high rainfall zones, durum has the highest average gross margins and often out-yields bread wheat.
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